ReMix:Final Fantasy VI "Ecstatic Heights" 3:47

Kickstarter plug! Rebecca E. Tripp is one of OCR's biggest contributors. Now she's organizing a July 6th Chrono Trigger concert in Florida with the Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra that she'll ALSO livestream. BACK HER & share it! :-) To help spread the news & encourage support, we've got not one but TWO mixes from her today, starting with an upbeat, energetic orchestral take on "Mt. Kolz" from FF6:

"When I first played Final Fantasy 6, something changed in me. It was sort of like a light turned on inside me and something special happened. I became a composer! :D FF4 had a similar effect on me (I got them both at the same time). They affected me in different ways, mind you. FF6 had this kind of "magical" effect. It filled me with this strange, wistful melancholy that never really went away -- but this felt like a good thing, somehow. I've spent the better part of two decades trying to give this "magic" to everybody I meet. I think many other people who played that game when they were young probably understand what I mean.

"Mt. Koltz" was one of the early tracks that really grabbed my attention! (Though I ultimately came to associate it with the mountain near Thamasa, rather than Mt. Koltz.) The tune was maddening beautiful to me; at the time, I'd never heard anything like it. Hopefully, this orchestral arrangement will convey at least some of that excitement to others."

Liontamer had some specific pointers, but was digging the overall:

"At 2:41, there was more meat added into the soundscape via more new instrumentation; would have also like to have heard some other type of rhythmic or tempo change or melodic interpretation there as well, because dynamically things were relatively similar, but that's not to say there was 0 dynamic contrast. That last little held woodwind note at the very end should have tapered off a little more softly, because it felt like it cut off abruptly, but no big deal.

All in all, a solid, melodically close arrangement that focuses on personalizing the track through lots of well-done instrument changes. The arrangement could have been more dynamic, but what's here still gets it done with enough interpretation."

I think that's spot-on; the highlight here, besides an overall pleasant & peppy arrangement, is the instrumentation, and how woodwinds, strings, brass, and chromatic percussion all get some time in the spotlight as the melodic baton is passed. It's a good way to handle one of FF6's more distinct pieces, and the uptempo, agile pacing facilitates the handoffs. Good stuff!